


If the World Was Ending

by ElfMaidenOfLight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: #GRSecretSpy, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Gingerose Holiday Exchange 2020: Secret Spy, Hurt/Comfort, Love/Hate, Mutual Pining, Oral Sex, Smut, Spy!hux, Spy/Handler Dynamics, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:07:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28420674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElfMaidenOfLight/pseuds/ElfMaidenOfLight
Summary: On the eve of what promises to be the final, if not the bloodiest battle between the Resistance and the Final Order, Rose Tico and Armitage Hux meet one last time to try and circumvent the disaster that now looms before them.Knowing there is little chance of surviving what's to come, the pair surrender to the magnetic tension that's been steadily growing between them.#GRSecretSpy
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 17
Kudos: 65
Collections: Gingerose Holiday Exchange 2020: Secret Spy





	If the World Was Ending

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MavenMorozova](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MavenMorozova/gifts).



> #GRSecretSpy exchange piece for Mavenmorozova! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> My immense gratitude to the_desk_fairy for her editing and guidance on this story <3
> 
> Musical accompaniment: “If the World Was Ending” by JP Saxe and Julia Michaels

~*~

Battle preparations were underway all around him, yet Hux marched on with single-minded purpose. Retreating from the High Council room to his chambers, bitter disappointment and carefully controlled rage once again nipped at his heels. 

It was becoming an increasingly regular occurrence, having to endure the malign presence of all those who’d usurped his hard-won power. All that he had planned for, fought for, _killed_ for-- everything that made him-- was slowly slipping through his fingers.

While he could navigate schemes and their inevitable setbacks well enough, impotence in the face of his own army, however, was a nearly insurmountable obstacle. 

Stepping over the threshold into his quarters, the pneumatic door swished closed behind him. In his private sanctuary, the buzzing tension that always roared in Hux’s head after dealing with the Allegiant General and that brat Ren quieted down into a low, background hum. 

His attention drifted over the sparse, tidy austerity of his room towards his terminal station. The comms pulled at him, its draw magnetic.

Sidelined though he may feel, here, away from prying eyes, there was indeed something he could direct his ire into. Something that solidified the ground under him so it did not feel as if he were caught in a mire of fruitless, inept rage. Something. Or, perhaps, someone.

Sinking into his work chair, Hux wrestled down the thrill that always reared bright and mischievous at the prospect of undermining his enemies with the help of a certain brash, obstinate, know-it-all engineer. 

Unlike all those empty uniforms that now populated the High Council, Rose was always eager to hear what new information he could supply. She had a habit of answering his hails so quickly, that he wondered if she must be waiting by her comms station just in case he called. An unlikely fantasy, of course, but it did make him feel a little bit smug.

As much as it delighted him to feed the Resistance information to thwart Ren, this time, his message was most dire. 

— 

In the center of the cave-like war room, Poe walked the squadron leaders through their next mission. The finale battle of the war, or so he claimed.

Rose watched from the back, leaning up against the uneven stone wall. A lump of rock was jabbing in her shoulder blade, which did nothing to improve her sour mood. After all the intel she’d brought to Poe, it seemed like once again she’d be sitting on the sidelines the entire time instead of being a part of the _real_ action.

She tried not to be a big ‘ol bantha butt about it, but languishing at a desk job when the others were out there risking their lives was starting to get real old.

A series of sudden, loud buzzing tones sounded in her ear, nearly making her jump out of her skin.

_Kriffing hell!_

Heart pounding, she ducked out of the meeting room as quietly and as casually as she could.

The sequence of beeps made it all too clear who was calling her.

Once she was out of earshot of the war room, Rose tapped the earpiece. 

“Hey!” She winced at the eagerness in her own voice. “Er- I mean, ah. Hi, Hux. ” 

She clapped her own forehead with her palm.

_Smooth, Rose._

There came a barely audible chuckle that funneled into her ear and slow-walked right on down her spine.

“Have I caught you at an inconvenient time, Tico?”

He always sounded so damn smug; verbal manifestation of that haughty look she remembered from the hangar the first time they met. It always made her want to puff up her chest and dish it right back to him.

“Oh yeah,” Rose said, unsure if the comm filtered out her bitter sarcasm. “real critical stuff.” 

The Resistance meeting certainly was important, but it wasn’t like she really needed to _be_ there...

“But it’s fine.” She tried to forget any nagging disappointment and focus on the call. This was way more interesting, anyway. “What’s going on on your end? Any new info?” 

Just the thought of him spilling more secrets made her giddy.

 _You don’t always gotta sound so eager_ , a voice in her head warned as she strolled into the empty navigation room. 

It was only mildly alarming how much Hux’s intel drops had become a highlight of her day. Who could blame her, though? The spy had become a vital lifeline for the Resistance, their correspondance a mission she could really sink her teeth into. Rose didn’t feel so overlooked when her friends eagerly awaited every new report she brought them. And Paige would be proud of her making a difference; helping the cause. 

Not that Hux saw it that way. He’d dropped enough hints for Rose to know this was all self-serving on his part. 

“Not new, per-say,” he hedged, his reluctance toying with her, making her flush with impatience.

Rose flopped down into an empty chair. 

“Must be something important. You don’t seem like the type to pick up comms just because you miss me,” she teased, kicking her feet up on one of the work stations.

Hux snorted. “Don’t flatter yourself, Tico.”

She grinned at the ceiling.

It was safe to joke with him like that. She didn’t have to pretend he cared and he didn’t have to know she had a hand-drawn sketch of him on the wall of her bunk. Totally harmless. 

“Alright, well, if it’s not a social call then, what’s up?”

Hux was silent on the other end of the line for a long beat, any air of lightheartedness between them draining away like someone had abruptly pulled the plug. 

“You need to tell Dameron to scrub the mission.”

Rose froze where she sat, hand coming up to press the earpiece tighter against her head, as if she’d somehow simply misheard him and making Hux’s audio louder would correct the problem.

“What? Why?” Rose dropped her feet to the ground, whispering harshly. “What the hell are you saying?”

“What I am _saying_ is that his plans will no longer work as they’re intended.”

“Why not?” A cold sense of dread condensed in her belly, trickling through her veins. “Was the intel faulty or something?”

A design flaw in Pryde’s new fleet: sub-par plating around the thruster’s plasma backflow. Pierce the line and the plasma would rupture. The entire ship would go up in flames.

It was the linchpin to their advantage in the upcoming battle. The one only days away. The one they were currently _prepping_ for.

The final battle after a war that had raged on for so long, each side chipping away at the other, that there was hardly anything left to fight over. Just desperate fingers clinging to the mere idea of victory.

And now…

Poe really though they stood a fighting chance this time. End it for good.

If Hux’s information had been wrong…

“My instructions were extensive and perfectly complete, as always,” the man shot back, annoyance in his voice palpable. “The defect in the Destroyer’s design still stands...”

He trailed off. 

“But...” Rose prompted, unconsciously leaning forward in her seat.

“However,” he said after a moment, “after the last Council meeting, it has been made quite clear that the Allegiant General is aware of the Resistance’s plans to exploit it.”

It took Rose a rather long moment to register his words. She was still perched on the edge of her seat as everything came crashing in, her stomach dropping out.

“No, that can’t be…”

If they knew, if the Order knew and the Resistance attacked as planned, they’d be slaughtered.

Blood pounded in her head, reverberating like the cannon fire that would no doubt rip through them. 

“Kriff, Hux, you weren’t compromised, were you?” She hated how thin and brittle her voice sounded, as if she were afraid of the answer. But her heart felt sick at the mere possibility...

They’d kill him for sure. And probably very painfully.

In his quarters light years away from the Resistance base, Hux paused at the reedy sound of Rose’s voice filtering in over the static.

Her words warbled with surprisingly tight emotion. 

Curious, he thought, that she hadn’t immediately accused him of selling them out. Perhaps after a year they had been able to build some modicum of trust after all.

The thought stirred a warm, foreign feeling; pleasant, yet quickly dismissed.

“No,” he said slowly, lips still quirking up slightly despite himself. “My treachery has remained undetected as of yet; not to worry.” 

Rose let out a puff of breath that crackled the audio feed.

“Oh, good.” He could very nearly hear the slump relief in her once tightly-wound posture. “But I wasn’t. Worried,” she added hastily. 

“However,” he punctuated with a stern finger held aloft, even though she could not see it. “Regardless of my current status, this _does_ mean someone among your ranks has been leaking information. Your flyboy General’s been too cavalier with his plans.” 

“Yeah, well, don’t have to convince me of that,” Rose snorted, running her hands over her face, voice muffled as she groaned. “Ugh, what are we going to do? Everything’s already been set into motion. I had to leave last minute prep just to answer this call, Hux!” Her voice rose an octave in desperation. “Poe isn’t going to back down off this plan. He’s dead set on seeing it through. You’ve got to... tell the Order to stand down or something!”

Hux let out a derisive snort with a shake of his head, sitting back in his chair.

_Or something._

Would that he could. 

“Come now, Tico,” he tutted, one leg rising up to cross over the other. “We have been over this multiple times.” 

He held little sway in the Council anymore, and he wasn’t particularly keen on spelling it out for her again. 

“Well, you have to try!”

“ _You_ have to convince your idiot General to ground your forces,” he countered, stern.

Back at base, Rose chewed her lower lip.

“And you’re sure, yeah? You’re sure he knows? This isn’t some trick is it?”

To his own surprise, Hux found himself mildly offended. He crossed his arms tight over the chest of his jacket.

“Have I ever given you misleading information before?”

“No,” Rose answered honestly. “Not once. It’s just- this could be your chance to be rid of us once and for all. Why tell us?”

“If the Resistance was utterly decimated, who then could I leverage to destroy my enemies, hm?”

She snorted, and he could tell he’d made her smile, just a bit.

As much as it was a tempting thought, the Resistance being utterly destroyed did not fit into his plans, however quickly those plans seemed to be unraveling. 

Besides, who would answer his comms calls? Trade with him barbs and match his wit blow for blow? Not that he would admit such things out loud, and certainly not to her.

“I’ll talk to Poe,” Rose eventually relented. “But he’s pretty set on going through with this attack. He might... he might even consider the potential losses worth it if we can land a death blow.” 

“The fool’s finally found his stomach for war, has he?”

“Come on, Hux, this is serious.”

“I am well aware.”

The deathly quiet in his words made the hair stand up on the back of her neck.

“I know, I know. Sorry, I just-” She shook her head. The giddy, weirdly pleasant feeling from before had completely gone up in smoke at this new revelation. “You gotta try and derail things on your end, okay?”

He’d been about to snap at her again, remind her that it would be fruitless for him to even try, but the fretful tone of her voice made him pause.

Hux took a deep, grounding breath, trying to calm himself enough for the both of them.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Okay. Okay, good.” 

She sounded much more relieved than he thought was warranted for such a thin promise of help. 

“I shall contact you again in due time,” he said, by way of signing off.

“Roger that. Good luck.”

She thought he’d already ended the call, so she only barely heard him when she took out her earpiece and he echoed, “Good luck.”

The line cut.

Rose looked down at the little communicator in her hand, heart pounding. 

This wasn’t going to be easy, but there could be no doubt that Hux has risked a lot over the course of his spying. She had to try.

Signing off his terminal, Hux slumped back in his chair, the loss of Rose’s voice in his ear only compounding the silence to which he had so jarringly returned.

That woman always had a way of getting his blood up, either by her sharp tongue or her relentless enthusiasm. Half the time he wasn’t sure if he was impressed or exasperated with her.

The flush of warmth and color that had taken hold of him during their conversation slowly cooled, plunging Hux back into cold solitude. 

It was a pity their conversations were always so brief. Speaking with Rose had the distinct knack of feeling like sweet reprieve; a diversion from his now constantly embattled existence.

Hux found that sometimes, during their days of silence, he actually quite missed it...

\---

After their call, Rose confronted the others immediately. But try as she might, Poe insisted his plan be seen through to the end. He simply didn’t trust Hux’s newest warning. 

Hypocrisy at its finest, Rose thought. He was all too eager to exploit Hux’s intel about the Destroyers, but chose now to disregard the General’s words. 

Of all the pigheaded, arrogant, _foolish--_

Disgusted, Rose hoped Hux would at least have better news on his end. But when she attempted to contact him a few days before deployment, she’d found his channel unresponsive, her hail bouncing back at her without ever being received.

“Oh no. No, no, come on. Come on.”

She tried again. Still nothing.

What if he’d been found out?

“Damn it!”

She kicked at the plastoid bin near her bunk, tipping it over and skidding it across the floor. She paced back and forth in her quarters, trying to think of another plan. Trying _not_ to glance at the sketch on her wall and picture Hux dead with a blaster wound ripped through him. 

Even if he was ultimately a self-serving maniac, she didn’t want... whatever would inevitably happen to him if he was caught.

The mere idea of Pryde having already arrested him made her nauseous, but the thought that he’d already been executed too made her head spin, the room tilting dangerously. She had to sit down before her legs gave out.

But that night, as the chronometer ticked down towards the eve of battle and Rose tossed on her bunk, a message came through on her data pad, screen lighting up a hopeful blue in the oppressive darkness.

Blearily, she unlocked the screen, but sat straight up in bed with a jolt of ecstatic surprise as she read what blinked across the display.

 _Comms channel compromised,_ the message said. _Meet at coordinates as follows. -AH_

Rose threw on her uniform and snuck off to the hangar before she could convince herself that doing so was a terrible idea.

Equipped with a light hyperdrive, Rose reached Hux’s coordinates in just a few hours. Just long enough for the enormity of what she was doing to finally catch up with her. 

Not long before the entire Resistance moved to strike the Order, she’d effectively stolen a transport and, what, snuck off to engage in some clandestine meeting? With a guy who was supposed to be their enemy? Reluctant ally at best?

“Oh man, Poe is going to blow a gasket,” she muttered to herself as the distinctive drag of hyperspace wore off. She found herself coming into orbit around Corlara 9, a lonely gas giant swirling in the Outer Region’s far-flung boundary. 

There, between her and the planet, a small, abandoned way-station hung like a little glittering bug.

Rose shivered in anticipation at the sight of it.

 _Come on_ , she told herself, _you got this_.

Besides, what if the information Hux had saved countless lives? She _had_ to come. Ignoring, of course, the nervous need to make sure he was actually alive.

Suspended above the perpetual storms painting their way across the planet’s surface, the old satellite grew larger as she approached; a stalwart sentry in the otherwise empty expanse of space.

“Huh, weird little thing…”

A quiet observer of the chaos around which it turned, the station seemed to soak up the nearby star’s light with its many spindly solar arrays, alone in its obsolete revolutions.

It was such an ancient piece of garbage that it hadn’t even shown up on the Republic’s archived mappings system.

Leave it to a man like Hux to ferret out such a backwater meeting place.

As Rose tilted the nose of her craft down, she made sure to engage the autopilot’s docking sequence. The only way she could make this whole thing even _more_ embarrassing would be if she crashed. Gliding around the back of the structure, her heart thudded up into her throat.

He was already there. Waiting for her. 

Moored against one of the side ports, an inky-black Upsilon shuttle gleamed menacingly in the starlight, its sleek structure and sharp angled wings both deadly and alluring. Just like the man who’d piloted it there.

Rose docked alongside one of the other couplings, cruising in to a slow stop. As her ship’s clamps extended and locked, the station rumbled, metal moaning deep.

This had better not be a trap.

She shot a furtive glance at the glistening, well-polished shuttle outside her front viewport.

All that advanced tech... she wanted to sink her fingers into it. Pull it apart and see how it worked. She wondered if Hux appreciated what he had; knew what a dream it would be to have access to such state of the art systems. 

He did have a mind for engineering; a keen intellect he loved to brandish about as if it was supposed to impress her. It… sorta did, if she were being honest. Annoying. A _lmost_ as annoying as that Imperial arrogance he carried about in his tone of voice, always making her blood boil and sing hot.

It didn’t help that this felt like they were sneaking around on some naughty rendezvous they were having on the sly.

Meeting right before a battle like this… 

Oh man, this would be the first time she’d seen him face-to-face since she’d bit him, too. 

The haughty, hungry look he’d given her that day was forever seared into her memory, as was his twisted expression of pain as she’d sunk her teeth into his flesh. 

She could replay the entire scene in her head like it had happened yesterday, and all the swell of emotions that had come with it. It was bad enough that giving him a taste of his own medicine had felt so good, but there was no way she should feel even the _least bit_ enticed by the memory of soft leather and the sensual quirk of his mouth.

Stars, what was _wrong_ with her?

Hux saw her as his handler, nothing more. If anything, he still hated her for embarrassing him like that in front of his men. She’d probably _invented_ the spark of lust in his eyes that day. Projection much? 

“Nooot helpiiing,” Rose groaned. “Okay, okay, okay,” she chanted under her breath, willing herself to calm with deep, steadying inhalations. After a few rounds of belly breathing, it seemed to work. 

Steeling herself, she swung open her bay door, and was greeted with silence from within the station. 

That, and the distant hum of machinery. Probably the solar processors that kept the station’s running lights on. So self-sufficient, it would keep chugging along until the nearby star collapsed. 

Kinda impressive, she thought. For junk.

Decent gravity stabilization too, she found, as she hooked her boot over the coupling lip. 

Rose ducked through into the dimly lit hallway beyond, sweeping back and forth for movement, hand on her holster, but was met only with hushed, tomb-like stillness. 

She let out a sigh of relief.

A small part of her had expected Hux to be waiting for her with a cadre of troopers, but in all the months of their arrangement he’d never pulled a single dirty trick.

Surprisingly honorable for a greasy war weasel.

A frustratingly charming, greasy war weasel...

Nope, not entertaining _that_ train of thought. 

Rose followed the cramped corridor down toward the satellite’s main room, footsteps echoing dully off the rusty paint-peeled floor until she stopped outside the door to the main cabin.

Inside, Hux was waiting. 

The pounding of her heart threatened to freeze her in place, but she shook it off. 

“Get a grip on yourself,” she huffed under her breath, reaching up to the command panel.

—

Hux observed the planet below from the station’s main viewing window; tendrils of dust storms and violent winds looping and dancing into infinity. Despite the planet’s brutality, it all appeared quite serene from so far up above. The eye of the storm; a slow, murderous dance.

A fitting scene, he thought, for a final bout of futile treason. 

Futile, because he had nothing left to give her. 

Perhaps Rose had succeeded in talking Dameron down from his doomed plans, because things on his end had not panned out in an advantageous way. 

He had tried, more ardently than he thought was prudent, to sway Pryde and Ren from their course of action. He’d pushed as far as he dared, and against his better judgement. At the peril of revealing his ulterior motives, in fact. But he had thought of Rose’s breathless, panicked pleas over comms and… he had tried. For her.

It had been like fighting against a tractor beam.

With an echoing series of clunks, the station shuddered in audible protest, rusted frame whining deeply as a second ship docked alongside it. The sound similarly rattled Hux from his musings.

Ah, there she was.

The hand she’d once wounded curled into a fist at his side. 

While the prospect of finally seeing her once more was not as unwelcome as he might have thought, he did not enjoy the thought of disappointing her with his failure. 

Rose Tico could be a massive pain in his arse, but there was no doubt that she was driven and resourceful. Loyal. That, at least, he could admit to admiring. She’d taken him on as an asset with only dogged determination and surprising affability. 

She’d placed her trust in him, her hope, when no one as of late seemed to expect anything from him except perhaps backhanded scheming. 

No, he did not like the idea of falling short of her expectations, even if they were ridiculous.

Alas, there was little he could do now to counteract what had been brought to bear. All sides would soon be converging and the results would be deadly for both.

Unless Rose had been successful…

Over his shoulder, the pneumatic door at the top of the stairs slid open with a tired hiss.

For a moment, Rose had to shield her eyes, the room beyond bathed in dazzling, solar light. Filtered, but still a stark contrast to the dark hallway behind her.

“Geez, I almost need dimmers in here.”

The door rumbled its way shut as she stepped inside, eyes adjusting.

Standing at the wall-length viewing window, with his back to her and arms clasped tightly behind him, Hux’s dark silhouette popped dramatically against the golden hues of Corlara’s star. Umber and bronze reflected off the gas giant’s surface onto the black of his uniform, burnishing his ginger hair a fiery gold.

Seeing him there, alive, sent an unexpected wave of relief swooping through her.

Stars.

Rose would never have imagined ever feeling so glad to see this one, insufferable man.

“Oh good,” she said, trying to sound flippant and offhanded even as her throat squeezed tight, “you’re not dead.” 

“I should hope not.”

Hux pivoted from the window, arching a brow in her direction. Light beyond the transparisteel played angled tricks across his sharp features.

“So,” he said as she descended the stairs, stepping down into the satellite’s single little living space, “you came after all.”

He sounded even more careworn than he had on comms, but genuinely surprised that she’d followed his cryptic instructions. 

“Well, yeah,” Rose tried not to think about just how fast she’d shimmied on her uniform. “Of course I did...”

 _You’re my responsibility_ , she wanted to say, but thought it would sound too stupid, or too vulnerable, or way too far over the line, so she held her tongue. Stepping closer, she stopped behind the old plastoid table and set of chairs near the center of the room, running a finger through the fine sheet of dust that had collected there, just to see the mark she’d leave. 

Hux turned his back to the viewing window, now framed by the celestial chaos behind him. He held her gaze with singular intent.

“Since you’re here, I take this to mean your bending of Dameron’s ear did not go well?”

Rose shook her head sadly, sinking down into one of the chairs as she wiped the dust off on her fatigues. She watched the ocher storms of the planet below just over his shoulder.

“No… He’s too psyched up about the plan to think it’s been compromised. We’ve lost so many people… I don’t think he can stand to run anymore.”

“Fool,” Hux muttered, dropping his arms to his sides. 

Rose snorted. “Can’t argue with you there. So, no luck on your end either, huh?”

Hux snorted, stepping closer to the other side of the table. “I’m flattered you think I still hold power, but I’m afraid not.”

“Oh,” Rose’s expression fell, but she did muster up enough levity to give him a weak smile. “Well, at least you tried. So, thanks.”

The kindness in her words lanced straight through his heart. Thank him? He hadn’t even been successful. Hadn’t achieved a thing. He had failed her and yet…

Hux looked away, frown pulling on his mouth.

“I attempted to plant misleading information concerning the movements of your squadrons. Nevertheless, it went unheeded.”

“Kriff,” Rose exhaled, eyes far away in thought. “Well, what the hell do we do now?”

“At this juncture?” Hux went quiet. “I am… not quite sure there is anything to do, Tico. Neither side is yet willing to back down. The battle will commence, and at the end of it, one side will be left standing.”

“A lot of people are going to die, Hux. Resistance, yeah, but Order personnel too.”

He swallowed hard. “I know.”

“Well we have to do something! We have to think.”

Admirable dedication, he thought, even if it was to a dying cause, but at this point, there was nothing left to do.

Hux knew the most logical course of action for him now was to board his shuttle and make the necessary preparations. Then, at least, he might survive the oncoming slaughter, but something about Rose’s fierce expression gave him pause. She really did intend for them to sit there and figure out some solution. Delay the inevitable.

It tugged him towards where she sat, rather than towards the door. 

“I suppose you could attempt to take Dameron out of the equation all together,” he suggested, folding elegantly down into one of the chairs around the plastoid table.

At her look of horror, he clarified, “Drug him, or some such thing.” 

Rose’s stricken expression broke into a surprise laugh, a sweet melodious sound Hux had never heard from her before. Radiance breaking through despair.

“Now that’s just plain devious, General.” Her eyes sparkled with mirth as she regarded him, fingers dancing on the table in an out-of-sync strum. “Could even work, too, if we had more time. Unless you’ve got sleeping spice hidden under that giant coat of yours. ”

“Ah,” he turned his gloved palms up where they rested. “Fresh out of illicit substances I’m afraid.”

She snorted.

So, the man did have a sense of humor. Maybe they should have initiated face-to-face meetings a long time ago.

“No spice? That really puts a damper on my plan to go out in a drug-addled haze, Hux.”

He shot her rueful glance.

“My sincere apologies.”

He looked so prim and straight laced sitting there, joking with her about spice of all things.

It was so different, talking like this in person rather than over comms. Here, she could see all those little micro expressions of his: a quirked eyebrow here, a shifted shoulder there, the draw up one side of his mouth into a slanting smirk. It was the most human she thought she’d ever seen him, and a crazy part of her wondered what else was hidden under that surly exterior. 

“Okay, so,” she plopped her elbow down on the table, smooshing her cheek in her palm as she leaned over towards him. “What if you took Pryde out of the equation? Trip him off a gangplank into a reactor or something.” She waggled her brows. 

At that, Hux couldn’t help a dark chuckle that rattled around in his chest. 

“As much as it would give me endless pleasure to do, the chances of my survival increase dramatically when all-out assassination can be avoided.”

Rose rolled her eyes, but she was grinning.

“Boring.”

“It’s called foresight, Tico. Foresight that’s kept my head on my shoulders for as long as possible,” he reminded her with a gesture of his glove. 

Rose pursed her lips. “Says the guy who’s been risking his neck for almost a year.” 

“Hm, yes, well…” Hux picked a speck of dust from the cuff of his coat, avoiding the warmth in her eyes.

Rose wondered if he even knew he was smiling, just a little. 

Pretty, for a man who scowled so often.

Maybe if things had been different, if all of it had been different, they could have worked together just a little bit longer and she could have learned more about what lay hidden under all that pomp and pomade. 

Sensing her continued gaze, Hux shifted slightly in his seat.

That look upon her face… wistful and a little bit sad. He rather wished she’d give him that fierce and determined fire in her eyes, like the kind she’d imprinted forever upon him, both in his mind’s eye and in the silver scar upon his finger. 

The longer she watched him though, the more he had the sense that she was peeling him apart to study all the parts of him he’d taken such care to cloister away.

“Yes?” He questioned, breaking the silence.

At his voice, she gave a small start, sniffing slightly and shaking her head.

“Nothing, just…” She took a shuddering breath. “I was just thinking of how things could have been different.”

“A rather useless endeavor,” he muttered, leaning elegantly back in the silly plastoid chair to watch the cosmos.

“You think so? You’ve never fantasize about what you could be doing if you weren’t fighting this stupid war?”

Hux’s brows creased together, mouth opening to issue a swift retort, and yet he paused, thoughts snagging on her words. 

Quite honestly, no. It had been a very long time since he had even entertained his usefulness for anything other than fighting for his goals.

“Like, I know you invented the hyperspace tracker,” she went on, steamrolling over his brain’s momentary misfire. “You’re good with tech.”

“I did have a research and development team under my purview for a time,” he said, words tumbling out almost unbidden at the swell of pride her words gave him. He did not mention that it had been disbanded at Pryde’s command. He cleared his throat. “I may have designed that tracker, but you disabled it nonetheless.”

“I know,” she grinned. “We’re a pretty good team, huh.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “A team that undoes the other’s inventions?”

“The only way to really make sure something works is to figure out how to render it inoperable.”

“I’m not quite sure that’s a valid methodology.” 

“It’s worked for me so far. Like with the tracker.”

Hux pursed his lips in reluctant agreement, eyeing Rose with begrudging respect. “That is true… you did best me in that regard.”

She gasped with faux surprise. “Aw man. That’s like, the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me, Hux.”

“Please don’t get used to it.” 

“I’ll try not to,” she said, leaning way back in her chair as she tried to clamp down on the fluttering beating low in her stomach.

She’d been so nervous before, but this- this almost felt _easy._ Fun. She could nearly forget the very circumstances they now found themselves in. 

Like the upcoming battle. The bloodshed. The war.

Her good humor broke upon the jagged truth of what awaited them. 

More death. More losses.

Despite the carefree feeling she’d felt moments before, above it all, Rose was tired. 

She’d had enough firefights to last her multiple lifetimes; enough brushes with death to fill an entire holobank. Her luck was bound to run out one day, she was sure of it. And what if that day was tomorrow?

Or worse, what if she did survive, but all her friends did not?

“I… don’t want to go back.”

At the small, brittle sound of her voice, Hux looked up from where he’d been lost in his own thoughts. Rose’s eyes were glassy as she watched the planet’s storms churn and dash beyond the quiet of the way-station.

His chest wound tight at the sight of her.

“Rose…”

She shook her head, a palm coming up to press against her forehead as her posture hunched. The piteous, self-deprecating laugh that issued from her, slurred with naked emotion, caught Hux completely off guard as he sat up straight, suddenly on edge himself.

His gloved hands curled around the armrests of his chair. 

But Rose was too caught up within herself to hear him move from where he sat. After everything she’d done, after all the hopeless, daunting situations she’d taken head on with dogged determination, _this_ was when everything finally fell apart? They’d come so far for her to chicken out now. Stars, what would Paige say?

“Kriff, I’m so pathetic,” Rose muttered, wiping at her eyes.

“That’s utter rubbish.”

At his whispered words, Rose gave a small start, unaware that Hux had even risen from his chair before he was bending down before her. The sight of his coat puddling around him as he took a knee, suddenly eye-level with her, nearly drop-kicked her heart into orbit.

“H-Hux?” She squeaked, the unshed tears in her eyes making him look fuzzy around the edges.

His mouth was set into a stern line. “I will not sit here and listen to you subject yourself to such drivel, do I make myself clear?”

She was so enraptured by the grey-green tempest of his piercing gaze, that she almost didn’t remember to respond. 

“Yeah,” but she sounded yet unconvinced as she stared at the floor. 

“Ah-ah,” he chastised, notching a finger under her chin and tilting her face back up. “If Dameron wants to get himself killed tomorrow by implementing a plan he’s been counseled not to execute, that is his own failing.” 

She pushed herself exceedingly hard for a civilian fighter, and was far more capable than those buffoons he had to contend with on the High Council.

“ _You_ are a brilliant mechanic, and you’ve put yourself on the line for those fools countless times.” 

Rose didn’t realize she’d leaned into the warm, smooth slide of his glove until she found herself tilted dangerously forward into his personal space. Under his earnest words, her guttering spirit burned bright, settling into a warm, molten feeling in her chest. 

Watching the despair on her face fall away, Hux was painfully aware at just how easily her tears had moved him to her side. No one should have the power to compel him so, as if it were second only to breathing. Why did she always have the distinct talent of disarming him? From the moment she’d defied him and sunk her hold into his flesh, something had changed, he was sure of it, even if he’d been determined not to examine it too closely.

“You’ve done everything you can,” he added, “and admirably.” 

“I… thought I wasn’t supposed to get used to you saying nice things,” Rose whispered, dipping her gaze to watch his throat bob as he swallowed, trailing back up to his mouth; his eyes.

His voice rumbled low in his chest as he began to slowly withdraw his touch, “You shouldn’t.”

Even through the fabric of his gloves, the slip of his warmth from her skin was unbearable.

“I shouldn’t do a lot of things, but who cares anymore.”

Hux only just caught her rush of words before her eyes fluttered closed. She leaned across the small space between them with her body and pressed her mouth to his. 

The contact alone was enough to send him reeling, making him jolt ridged where he knelt before all the tension flooded away. Reaching for her, he found himself holding her steady, cheek cradled in his palm as he pressed back against her lips with equal urgency. 

When her hand slid down to the shoulder of his coat, clutching there, the tenderness of her touch finally dragged him up for air. Their lips peeled apart as he retreated, but only just enough to gauge her expression.

Rose flashed him an cheeky, impish grin, igniting within him a stirring thrill. 

“Sorry,” she said, neither looking nor sounding very sorry at all. “I had to.” 

“Is that so?” 

Rather than pull away, he thumbed the plush swell of her cheek, marveling at how it dipped beneath only the slightest pressure. The warning voice in the back of his head telling him to push her away was slowly drowned under the realization that Rose was right. What good was guarding himself against the relentless warmth of her if it was all going to end anyway?

At least here, in this moment, he was more than what the war had made him. 

“Hey,” Rose’s hand found its way to where his neck disappeared under the stiff collar of his jacket. She danced her touch there, right on the edge. “Stay with me.”

If she’d meant to call back his drifting, unmoored thoughts or if it were simply a plea for his company, he did not know. She did not get the chance to clarify as he gripped her tighter and slotted their mouths together once again, his heart in reckless free-fall against the cage of his chest as he surrendered to what she offered him.

Abandon. Indulgence. _Her._

Rose’s inhale of surprise quickly spiraled down into a slow, molten moan as he bent his other knee and pulled her closer, sliding her to the edge of her seat. She parted her lips to let him inside as he swept through her mouth, coaxing her tongue with the caress of his own. 

She matched his fervor beat by beat, snaking her arms around his neck, winding closer and closer until she slowly slid off the end of the plastoid chair and into his lap, straddling his legs with both her own. He caught her easily as his arm banded around her lower back, her fingers twining with the lower fringe of his hair as her chest heaved against his. 

They broke apart with a sloppy _pop_ as he trailed nipping kisses down her jaw to the soft flesh of her neck, biting and nibbling at the delicate skin there. 

“Hah-Hux-”

“Tell me to stop,” he rasped against the soft bronze slope between her throat and her shoulder. Rose’s body shuddered in his arms.

“Uhnno. No, please,” she gasped, coiling back and forth in his firm hold. “I want this. I want _you.”_ The fabric of her khaki uniform bunched and ruffled up against him as she squirmed, rocking her warm, soft body against his lap. “Let’s be selfish. Just this once.” 

A flush of heat surged through him as she clutched him close and whispered against his ear, “Take me.” 

He lifted her easily in his arms as he stood, her legs going around his hips under his coat as she gripped him roughly by the hair, making him hiss into her kiss. She swallowed down his sound greedily as they stumbled together towards the grid of bunks inset into the room’s far wall, all but collapsing down upon the closest one in a desperate tangle. 

Below him, Rose was already slipping her hands under the shoulders of his greatcoat. 

“Off. Everything,” she commanded.

“Everything?” He panted, kneeling between her legs, already shrugging out of the heavy fabric before it slid to the floor. The gloves went next, one by one.

“Mmn,” she hummed, propping herself up on her elbows to fumble with the buttons of her uniform. If she stopped for too long, she just _knew_ she was going to chicken out, and Rose was definitely not about to let that happen. Not when this temptingly handsome man was looming over her, gazing down with unbridled lust as each successive button popped open to reveal her breast binding underneath.

Rose yanked her shirt the rest of the way off her arms, cool, recirculated air of the way-station nipping at her bare skin as she tossed it aside. 

“Well?” Her brows jumped, nodding her chin to the man poised motionless between her thighs.

The dark, hungry look he gave her as he shifted back to sit, yanking off his boots, made her already slick pussy clench in anticipation. What if he fucked like he made war, ruthless and with no surrender? Stars, she hoped so.

While he unclasped the front of his jacket, Rose kicked off her shoes. They joined his with two dull thunks upon the floor as she watched him cast his jacket aside. He was clad then in only a tight, cap-sleeved underlayer that stretched taut along the slim, slightly defined muscles of his chest. 

Hux wasted no time rolling the tacshirt up over his head and letting that too fall in a puddle upon the bunk, but he paused as Rose suddenly sat up and pressed her hand to his bare chest. As she traced the contours of his body with her fingers, ghosting down over the thatch of ginger hair that started at his navel, he wondered if she could feel the thundering beat of his heart.

Without a word, she leaned forward and kissed his chest, dotting tiny pecks over his breastbone, a far more tender gesture than he deserved from her.

His stomach quivered. “Tico…”

If he’d expected anything, he’d expected something quick and carnal, not her tender touch and the way she looked up at him, eyes warm and reflecting something much, much deeper. 

It was flattering. Humbling. It was-

“You’re warm,” she muttered, sliding her touch back up to where he caught her hand in his own. He pressed a kiss against her knuckles as he gently laid her back down against the bunk, finding her lips as his long, nimble fingers worked the front of her fatigues open.

Rose whimpered at his deep, sensual kisses. Was this really happening? It couldn’t be, could it? There was no way Armitage Hux had his tongue down her throat and his fingers hooked under the waistband of her pants. Stars but he felt _so good;_ bare skin of his chest hushing up against her tummy as he leaned back from ravaging her mouth. 

A shallow gasp escaped her as he _tugged,_ exposing the beginning dip of her inner thigh. 

“Care to help?” he deadpanned. Rose lifted her hips up so he could slide everything down, shimmying slightly so the fabric could pull away as she quickly unwound her breast band, her ore pendant slung slightly to the side from all their movement. 

So, maybe she hadn’t been expecting him to take off _everything_ in one go, but suddenly she was flat on her back with her pants and panties down around her knees, utterly exposed to a man she would _never_ had considered ever _remotely_ being with like this. Not outside her most secret of fantasies, anyway. 

Hux drank in the sight of her as he worked each leg free one at a time; the sumptuous bounce of her breasts, the way her knees pulled in demurely as if she could hide from him, the smooth creamy skin of her thick, tanned thighs that met to frame a pair of soft, neatly-trimmed lips, already glistening. 

Admittedly, it had been some time since Hux had been with anyone, and never with anyone like Rose Tico. Once his staunch enemy now the woman he might be spending his last night with. But stars, she was more beautiful than he could have ever dared to imagine. 

Casting her clothing to the floor, he was compelled to kneel down and kiss the swell of her sex, head swimming in her sweet, honeyed scent. As his lips pressed against her puffy, slick-glazed flesh, she jumped.

“Oh!”

Lovely, he thought, mouth ghosting over her pussy in a warm bloom of breath, flicking his gaze up to hers. The bunk was small. Even with her head up against one end it was a tight fit, but he did so want to taste her…

She nodded earnestly at his questioning look, pressing her lips together hard as her round cheeks flushed a deep, delightful red. She broke eye contact to flop back down in embarrassment, arm flung up over her face. 

He smirked as he lowered his mouth, eyes fluttering closed as his tongue plowed through her dripping cunt from bottom to top, eliciting a jumbled string of moans and curses as her legs tensed under his hands now gripping her thighs. 

Sweet stars, she was exquisite.

Too many nights had he lain awake near obsessing over this woman; her brilliance and her unflappable spirit. A storm of conflicted desires ignited during their first meeting. She’d haunted him. If they could have been doing _this_ the entire time instead of bickering over comms, he would have insisted they rendezvous long ago.

“Hux, Hux, _uhnn_ ,” she quaked in his hold, fingers grasping at the crown of his head and yanking as he traced his tongue over the warm folds of her sex before flicking up against her pearl. The sharp, pulling pain that tugged at his scalp only shivered as bolts of pleasure down his spine, stirring his hardening cock.

Lapping her down like a starved man, he swished his head back and forth, burying himself deeper. The heat of her consumed him, blocking out all sight and sound except the pounding of his own heart and her heady, damp clutch, split open against his searching mouth.

Rose strained her thighs, trying and failing to clamp them shut at his unrelenting assault, inhaling sharp as Hux closed his lips around her clit and _sucked._ She gasped, bucking up but unable to pull away under the delicious cage of his arms holding her down. The power he held over her sent a thrill zipping down through her core, dissolving into the coalescing flood of release beginning to overtake her. 

She came with a low, trembling moan, ecstasy scattering like starlight across her body as she surrendered to Hux’s slowed ministrations. He kept her perched on the knife’s edge of her pleasure for a long, lingering, aching note.

Tears blurred the corners of her eyes as Rose came drifting back down back into her body, one final oversensitive _tug_ on her throbbing sex causing a hysterical giggle to bubble up as she squirmed in Hux’s loosening hold. She was able to finally pull her legs together before pleasure tipped over into too-raw sensation. 

Sitting back on his knees, Hux wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, a ginger brow quirked up at Rose’s tittering giggles. She was grinning ear to ear. 

“Wouldn’t have thought it’d be so amusing,” he muttered, though inwardly very pleased at her reaction.

She smiled loosely at him, eyeing how his hair was ruffled up on either side from the press of her thighs.

Ooh, she’d mussed him up good.

Still catching her breath, Rose propped herself back up on wobbly elbows, meaning to say something clever, but all that came out was a blurted, “Your _mouth_.”

Hux cheeks flushed pink at her words, but the fire in his eyes did not waiver. Rose raked her gaze lazily down his bare chest, following the trail of ginger hair to the straining fly of his neatly-pressed slacks. Renewed hunger ratcheted up tight in her belly.

Round two, she thought with giddy abandon, biting her lip and shooting him a sly look.

“You’re quite insatiable, Tico,” he said, sliding from the bunk to open his belt with a delicate _clink_. 

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she purred, rolling to her side to watch him push down his slacks with a hurried edge, revealing snug black shorts and long, pale legs. Her mouth watered at the straining upward slope of his length that tented the black fabric waistband. She was barely given enough time to imagine what lay beneath however before that too was pushed down, his flushed cock springing free.

Rose’s eyes widened.

With a predatory air, he climbed slowly back onto the bunk, moving over her body until her pert, pebbled nipples brushed against his chest as he bent down to steal another kiss. 

Rose could feel the long length of him pressed up against the inside of her thigh, hot like a brand but smooth as silk. He must have been equally as eager as she was by the way he rutted gently against her, taking her chin and slipping his tongue into her mouth. She could taste the echo of her own pleasure on his kiss, tangling her tongue with his as she gripped his shoulders and rolled her hips, delighting in the groan she coaxed from him as he broke away.

One of his hands braced next to her head as the other slid down to where his cock was trapped between them. 

“I’ve wanted you for a long while now,” he spoke against her skin, quiet like a secret and more tender than she’d ever heard him.

“Me, too,” she confessed, clutching her arms around his shoulders. She could feel the soft flicker of his lashes upon her cheek, his words eliciting a surge of unexpected affection for him as her heart tumbled desperately in her chest. He felt so good, so _right._ She widened her thighs for him and arched her body, aiding him as he slotted the head of his cock against her slippery cunt, sliding up and back, sawing gently through the lips of her sex.

“Please,” she whimpered, canting her hips, trying to catch him just where she wanted him most. He pressed his forehead against hers, watching her face intently as he nudged against her slick center, slowly beginning to push inside. 

The broken vulnerability in her expression as he entered her body, conquering her inch by inch, rattled him to his very core. Rose held him like he was her only anchor, nails digging into his flesh as her eyes rolled closed in ecstacy.

Breathe, he had to remind himself, her clutch dizzyingly tight around him as he pulled back and thrust once more, driving in deeper until their hips kissed and he was buried fully inside. 

_“Rose—”_

Her name came out as a gravelly moan.

The coiling pleasure throbbing in his groin begged him to be rough, to be quick, but Hux couldn’t resist starting slow. She mewled weakly as he withdrew only to slide in once again, her inner walls fluttering around his thick intrusion, edging him higher with each delicate pulse.

“Mmn—ah,” she sighed, her thighs cycling against the backs of his legs, urging him on as his hand moved up to palm one of her generous breasts. He kneaded gently, tweaking a nipple and eliciting a dark groan from the woman under him. Her head fell back, her hips rising to meet him as they made a slow-rolling rhythm; sweet synchronicity.

Hux curled over her as they rocked, needing to kiss her.

Their lips slid messily together as he braced himself, slowly leveraging his hips to snap faster, thrust harder. She held onto him, surrendering to the building urgency with which he plundered her body. 

“Don’t stop,” she said against his ear, voice strained and shaking as he fucked her harder, ratcheting up his speed.

He couldn’t stop, even if he wanted to. The slick smacking sounds of their bodies and the gallop of his heart and Rose’s sweet, high-pitched panting cast a hypnotizing spell. He was totally ensnared, and all the dark poison within him melted away under her radiant heat, remaking him.

With each punishing return of his cock, sparks sizzled through Rose’s body. He lifted one of her thighs higher, reaching deep enough to strike against the very heart of her, causing her to cry out into the crook of his neck. 

There, there, _right there- more-_

Still tender from her first orgasm, another now grew just out of reach, building brighter and brighter as he hit just the right spot again and again and again. In a blinding instant the swell of pleasure caught her, vaulting her high before dashing her down again. Pinpricks of light fissured against the back of her eyelids, the roar of it thundering through her.

Fearing she might drown, scatter into nothing, she bit down on the pale flesh of Hux’s shoulder and came with a long, muffled moan. Her body tensed and shook under the shelter of his hold. 

Bright pain bloomed from where she suddenly latched onto him with her teeth, just as her cunt gripped him impossibly tight. The two sensations collided and ripped a choking gasp from him. His hips stuttered, muscles tensing, and his restraint finally snapped as he fell apart with a broken groan.

Rose basked in the delightful feeling as, buried deep, he spilled himself inside her body, each successive pulse of his cock driving rational thought further and further away—

Nothing existed in that one, perfect moment save for the pair of them, the only sound in the galaxy their exhausted, labored breathing.

Eventually, Rose realized she was drooling all over Hux’s shoulder, blinking weakly through the haze of her ebbing orgasm. He was heavy above her, crushing her down, face buried against her neck, but she reveled in the weight of him, a warm and comforting blanket over her body.

She nestled closer, breathing in the heady scent of his aftershave and the sweet smell of sex, fingers tip-toeing across the lithe muscles of his back, feeling every inch. Her thoughts meandered lazily as she lay wet kisses upon his neck, nuzzling into his sideburn and smiling smugly to herself at the delicious stretch of him inside her.

Everything was so still, so peaceful, and she felt so delightfully full and sated, content to lay there for a long, long time…

Rose didn’t realize she’d drifted off for a moment until she was awake again. She shifted to her side and snuggled up against Hux’s chest. He must have disentangled himself from her body, pillowing her head upon his arm. She blinked her eyes open to find him awake and watching her. 

“Oh,” she whispered, shifting under the wool of his greatcoat draped over them. 

“You looked cold,” was all he said, pale green eyes staring down at her, mouth frowning slightly. 

Their bodies were pressed together under the thick woven cloth, legs tangled. 

“Thanks.”

She eyed the purpling line of teeth marks on Hux’s shoulder before she turned her face into his chest, breathing in his scent and listening to his heartbeat. After a moment, his long, nimble fingers began to make slow looping patterns on her back, soothing her almost back to sleep. 

She swallowed thickly. “How long was I—?”

“Not long,” he muttered, chin resting on the crown of her head, voice loose and slow. 

“That was… really nice, Hux,” she said, cheeks flushed red. A tender fondness for him pooled in her belly as he splayed his hand between her shoulder blades, pressing her closer. 

“It was,” he agreed. He was loath to let her go, but he knew their time together was drawing to an end. Now that she was awake, she’d rouse to don her uniform, speeding away on her transport back to the Resistance. 

During her brief slumber, he’d watched the gentle serenity of her face and had imagined something different; some alternate scenario in which they could lay together for hours more. His heart ached for it, though he knew it was foolish to do so.

To his unspoken disappointment, Rose sat up, taking his greatcoat with her until it fell from her shoulders 

“I should get back,” she said, but her voice wavered.

Hux resisted the urge to curl his arm around her waist and pull her back down to him.

“That is probably for the best,” he agreed, the words like ash in his mouth. He rose up beside her.

He wanted to reach out and touch her; run his fingers over the tan slope of her arm and brush away the hair that had fallen over her shoulder, but he resisted. This was nothing more than a passing dalliance. She may have wanted him in this moment, but there were forces far more powerful than their own lust tugging them in different directions. 

Hux watched her slip down to her feet, taking a piece of him right along with her. She finally spoke once she’d stepped into her fatigues, pulling them up before working on her chest binding. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get Poe to call off the mission.” 

Hux sighed through his nose, joining her on his feet as he gathered his clothing from the floor.

“It’s hardly your fault,” he said. “I failed on my end as well. Now that our comms channel has been discovered, it is only a matter of time before the Allegiant General unearths my deceit.”

Rose frowned, unable to shake a curl of sorrow from winding its way around her heart. She watched as Hux shrugged back on his jacket. The easy expression on his face when he held her had been replaced with cold resolve.

He was steeling himself, she realized.

If he went back now, her fears would almost certainly be realized. He’d be caught. He’d be dead. 

This man, one she’d once been so determined to hate… he’d been so tender with her. She could still feel the sweet ache of him between her legs, her lips still tingling from his kisses.

If he died at the hands of Ren or Pryde for helping the Resistance, it still wouldn’t make right what he’d done. But perhaps there was another way.

“Come with me,” she said.

Hux snorted, shooting her an incredulous look as he clicked his jacket’s belt buckle back around his middle.

“Be serious.”

“I _am_ ,” she implored, taking a step towards him, suddenly flying high on the thrill of possibility. “Look, you won’t be able to change _anything_ if you’re dead. Come with me, stay alive; help us take down the Final Order once and for all.”

Hux stilled, regarding her with narrowed eyes as if trying to see through her words.. But she wasn’t trying to deceive him at all. She genuinely wanted him to accompany her. 

He swallowed. “I cannot leave my men.”

That wasn’t a ‘no’, Rose thought, excitement rocking her up slightly onto her toes. 

“If you still have troopers and Officers loyal to you and the Order then I _know_ you have some kind of secret way to contact them.”

Hux blinked owlishly at her, then shook his head.

“You’re too clever by a half, Tico.”

“Tell them to defect! You’ll be saving them from dying in tomorrow’s battle anyway. You’ll kneecap your enemies _and_ we'll be able to stop this whole doomed mission from happening in the first place!” 

“Dameron wouldn’t listen to you before, what makes you think he’ll listen to you now, rather than simply shoot me on sight the moment we touch down?” He couldn’t believe he was even _considering--_

Her hands balled into fists. “I’ll make him!”

A laugh of surprise punched out of his chest, an appreciative smirk pulling his mouth up into a half-smile. _There_ was that look in Rose’s eyes that he remembered.

Flattered though he was by her determination, she was letting her emotions dictate her logic, but then… she was at least correct in one thing: if he _was_ court martialed and summarily executed, that would certainly be the end of his plans.

As he stood there, thinking in silence, Rose stepped even closer, looking up into his face as she brushed against the front of his jacket. 

“You said before that you wanted me,” she whispered, clenched hand pressed over her heart and the pendant resting against her skin. “Is that still true?”

He tilted his chin down, a dangerous glint in his green gaze. His lips parted as he took a shallow breath.

“It is.”

Rose smiled, eyes crinkling at their edges.

“Well, you’ve had me, Hux, now don’t lose me.” Her hand found the front of his jacket. “Defect. Save your men, stay alive; stick it to the Emperor. I want you with us. With _me.”_ Her eyes shone. “Please. You still have a chance to change the galaxy for the _better._ ”

He laid his hand over hers, searching her face and finding nothing but the truth of her heart reflected there. Despite what he had done, she still saw within him limitless possibility.

And he did want her. Over and over, if he could. 

“So… it seems you are both insatiable _and_ persuasive,” he muttered with a sly smile.

Rose brightened. “Does… does that mean yes?”

“I hope you realize it’s only to save my own skin,” he said as he let go of her hand to bend down for his greatcoat, voice laced with mock seriousness. “I am loath to inflate that ego of yours by giving you the wrong impression.” 

Rose laughed, a sound of pure, genuine relief. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

Hux adjusted his coat before tugging on his gloves. “I should hope not. I have a reputation to maintain.” Rose rolled her eyes. “Now, the question is, shall we take your transport or mine?”

Before they could make their way to the door, Rose bounced up onto her tiptoes. Fisting her hands in Hux’s lapels, she dragged him down for one more kiss, giddy with delight and full to the brim with rekindled hope.

“Well, you know…” she whispered against his lips, grinning like a fool, “I’ve always wanted an Upsilon shuttle.”


End file.
